Unexpectedly
by SleepingDogs
Summary: High School AU. What was once a sweet and innocent friendship, has blossomed into bullying and hatred. Lexa, currently deemed as the Queen/"Commander" of the school, and her former childhood friend, now subject of the bullying, Clarke. Clarke would like nothing more than to enjoy life, and have a friend back. But she's not so sure that's all she wants.
1. Chapter 1

**Unexpectedly**

 **Chapter 1**

It was quite possibly, the most beautiful day ever seen in Washington DC. The birds chirping, blue sky, sun beaming, the wind, tame and cool. Clouds forming. She peered out the window, wishing she could just go outside and sketch this beautiful day.

"...and that's how planets were most likely formed." Mr. Kane droned. "Any questions?" As usual. No hands shot up.

Clarke rolled her eyes. School was the absolute last place she wanted to be. Especially being in her second year. She knew of the school's antics, politics and routines. She loathed them.

"Alright then." Mr. Kane turned around to write more gibberish on the board. Clarke looked down to sketch some more doodles in her notebook. Suddenly she felt something hit her head. She peered down at the object to find a scrunched up paper ball. She looked across the room in the direction of who the culprit was.

A giggle came from the back corner. There, a brown wavy haired girl smiled and waved at Clarke. Echo. _Of course_ she thought spitefully, while picking up the paper ball. _Who else could this culprit have been?_

"Clarke is a loser" it read, with her face crudely drawn with grotesque bodily fluids exiting her. _How creative._ She peered back at the group that, yes, had some extremely attractive people in it, but were also the biggest dicks in school.

They laughed a bit louder once more watching her read the note.

She sneered, crumpled up the paper, and threw it back on the ground.

"No littering Ms. Griffin. Please pick that up and put it in the trash can." Scolded Mr. Kane. The group only laughed harder and louder. _Oh of course. No please, this is completely warranted_. She gets harassed by the group on a daily basis, but the minute she litters? _God, please have mercy on my soul for I have sinned_. She sneered internally, not wanting to get in trouble again.

Clarke can barely believe that at one point, she wanted to even be friends with one of them. The main one. The so dubbed "hottest" one. Lexa.

Clarke looked at Lexa as she walked back to her desk. Lexa was a bit different. Although she never laughed directly at Clarke, she would at the very most, smile at her friends' (at least that's what Lexa calls them) antics, and Lexa had never tried to stop them.

That makes her almost as bad as the rest of them.

Clarke sat back in her desk and resumed day dreaming. What happened? Since when did they become like this? Clarke still remembered when she and Lexa used to be good friends in their younger years.

Back in kindergarten, Lexa had been teased by the boys for her braid, as well as other girls for not being in style at the time. Clarke, who has always been taught to stand up for what was right, vehemently defended Lexa. They had been inseparable for quite some time after, all the way up to the end of 6th grade. Clarke unfortunately had to move due to her fathers' work. Seattle. That was the other side of the world to Clarke. She and Lexa had promised to write to each other every single day. And they both kept their promise.

For a couple months.

Then one day, the letters stopped. It just faded. Things became busy for both Clarke and Lexa. Both had made new friends in their new schools, and both were busy trying to fit in. They both ended up not writing any letters to each other.

Clarke would think to write one every 3 months or so, but just scrapped them every time she tried. She was just unsure what to say to Lexa anymore. She knew they were no longer friends, but didn't want to completely sever off her first friendship. As it became more and more difficult to write something to Lexa, she eventually stopped trying at all.

Clarke didn't think she would ever see Lexa again.

But, life never goes the way Clarke expected. Life had decided to take Clarke back to Washington DC, and back to her old neighborhood.

On Clarke's first day at the new high school, she didn't know what to expect. She was excited to make new friends, but dearly missed her old ones.

When she saw Lexa in her homeroom, she was ecstatic as she thought they could rekindle their friendship. Once the teacher was done talking, students were free to do as they please. Clarke had decided to go up to Lexa and greet her, but was met with cold eyes, and a laugh from her new friends. They had told Clarke to keep dreaming , as Lexa would never hang out with " a loser like Clarke".

Clarke had dejectedly gone back to her seat in that class. The rest of homeroom had then avoided her like the plague, not wanting to talk to her at all for fear of also being labeled a loser. She hoped in at least one class, _soon_ , she would make a good friend. Otherwise the school would be insufferable.

The bell rang, breaking Clarke's memories. She gathered up her books and made her way to her locker.

"Kane is such a blowtard. He didn't see them throw the paper at you, but _you_ got in trouble for just dropping it on the ground. What the fuck!" Her best friend Octavia vented beside her.

Clarke rolled her eyes again "I know. I swear at this point he's just picking on me." She smiled at Octavia though. Clarke was grateful she met Octavia at this school. If there was one good thing to come out of her time here, it was definitely "O".

On Clarke's second day of high school, she had first period science. She had to pair up with someone for the rest of the semester as a lab partner. When she looked around the class, she noticed most people knew each other from middle school. She tried to find someone alone when she noticed Octavia.

Octavia was by herself, but absolutely gorgeous wither her flowing brown hair, and piercing green eyes.

She was alone too.

Clarke was wary though. She had seen Octavia hanging out with Lexa's group the day prior.

Octavia looked up though and caught Clarke staring. Clarke quickly looked away to pretend she wasn't. She didn't want to be harassed in this class either. When she looked back at Octavia though, Clarke was given a welcoming smile. Clarke decided to take a chance, and go over. They introduced themselves, and quickly bonded over Octavia's badass jacket.

"I swear I was about to punch Echo in the fucking face." Octavia growled. Clarke closed her locker door, and laughed at Octavia's threat.

Octavia had always been very strong, and like Clarke, stood up for what she believed in. Ever since day one. Shortly after they had introduced themselves for the first time, Octavia and Clarke were on their way to the cafeteria to eat Lunch. They had sat down together and started to have a passionate discussion about art.

Their lunch however, was interrupted briefly by a wavy brunette, the girl now known as "Echo".

 _What kind of name is 'Echo'? What a dumb fucking name._ Clarke still remembers thinking (and quite frankly, still thinks.)

"Why are you eating with this loser, Oct?" Clarke remembered Echo sneer. "I hope it's just out of pity."

"Ok Echo, one, don't ever call me 'Oct' or I will rip your tongue out. Two, she's not a loser, and you can go fuck yourself." Octavia had retorted. Clarke remembered how her jaw dropped, and then being dragged away by Octavia to get somewhere far away from "those fucking retards" (as Octavia had so elegantly put it.)

Since that incident, Octavia has been quite possibly the most amazing friend Clarke had ever encountered.

"Don't worry about it O, it doesn't bother me. Life does not end after high school." Clarke confidently assured her good friend.

"Damn right. It better not." Octavia and Clarke said their quick goodbyes and parted ways to their last class of the day.

Once Clarke got home, she immediately crashed on her bed and peered up at her phone. Octavia did not yet respond to her request to grab something to eat. Her mom, Abigail Griffin, wasn't home, as usual. So she wanted to eat out.

Her mother had left a note on the fridge saying she'd be late as there was an emergency in the ER. Although Clarke could no blame it, after all she was a doctor, she still felt incredibly selfish as she just wanted more time to see her mother.

Clarke sighed and opened up her Facebook on her phone. A message popped up from her messenger. It was from Echo. Clarke was about to ignore it, but curiosity got the better of her as she saw a preview of a link. She knew she shouldn't have opened it, but before she knew it, it was open and she was staring at it. It was too late anyways. Echo knew she had read it.

 _Thanks, Facebook._

Her mouth dropped a little and she sat up from her bed. It was a link to a group on Facebook. The "I Hate Clarke Griffin" group. Newly made today.

 _Great. Finally. Glad we have an official roster now. Only took them like, a year._

She clenched her jaw and skimmed over the culprits.

She rolled her eyes at the typical comments on how Clarke "thinks she's better than everyone else" and how she was "fucking annoying", "thinks she's cute and quirky" and so on. Even a drawing and video of the paper ball thrown at her in class was uploaded. She scrolled further.

She stopped when she saw a comment from Lexa.

"Her dad probably killed himself because of her."

That one stung.

Tears immediately sprung to her eyes. Clarke felt vulnerable, and weak. Her father's death still fresh in her mind like it was yesterday.

Although it was one of the shorter comments, it was the one that hurt the most.

Clarke turned off her phone and covered the blanket over her head and started to sob.

 _You are OK. You are strong. They're just stupid. They don't know anything._ She tried to repeat over and over again until she drifted off to slumber.

 **Author's Note: Cyber bullying is very serious. If someone you know is being bullied, please put a stop to it. Standing by and watching is just as bad as doing it. Life does not end after high school. Please make sure if you know a victim of bullying, you reach out and help someone see that too.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When Lexa was a little girl, she had always been bullied for most of her school days. They would tease her about her braid, tell her how out of fashion her clothes were, how dirty they were. Lexa would come home crying all the time to her mother who told her the same thing over and over again.

That her family was poor, her clothes were hand me-downs from her older sister, Indra, and that they couldn't afford anything else at that time.

They told her she had to be strong at school, because they couldn't be there with her. Her parents were immigrants from Ukraine. They braided her hair as it was part of their culture. As much as she wanted her parents to take it up with the school board, at the time, her parents feared western authority. They weren't sure if the schools were as equally strict as the schools in Ukraine, and feared it would make things worse for Lexa.

Lexa first thought she would be doomed to spend the rest of her days bullied. Until she met Clarke that is.

Clarke was not in Lexa's class when they first met. She was in a different one. But Clarke had overheard one of Lexa's torture sessions and immediately put a stop to it.

Lexa remembers that day as clear as yesterday. Clarke had wiped away her tears, held her hand, and told Lexa to be strong. Just like her family had told her. Clarke smiled at Lexa and added that she knew Lexa would be strong, she could see it inside of her.

Lexa remembers furiously blushing and mumbling how no, she was not strong, and wondered how Clarke could see it inside her when she couldn't.

No, Clarke was the strong one. She had the courage to stand up to the bullies, and the kindness to become Lexa's friend.

So kind, that they became best friends. Luckily for them, they ended up in the same class each year after up until the 6th grade. At the tender age of 11, Lexa's best friend was going to be moving away to Seattle and did not plan on returning.

Lexa remembers returning home on the day of the news and crying.

She wanted to support her friend, but Seattle was so far away. On Clarke's last night in Washington DC, Lexa had snuck out of her house and ran to Clarkes to say her final goodbyes. After waking Clarke, and sneaking into her bedroom window, she remembers Clarke laying her head on Lexa's shoulder. In that quiet and serene moment, they pinky promised that they would write each other letters, and stay best friends forever.

When middle school started, Lexa had decided to let her hair down, away from her traditionally braided hair. It was a new school, and here, Clarke was not around to protect her. Lexa did not want to have to go through her same elementary school experience. She had slightly nicer clothes this time around as her sister Indra had kindly treated her out for back to school shopping.

Indra being 6 years older than Lexa, had just graduated high school and had a full-time job working in retail. She would then be off to college, Harvard, to study law. Something Lexa admired Indra for.

Despite going to middle school with most of the same kids from elementary, letting her hair down was the best decision she ever made. And also the hottest decision. The attention she received from both guys and girls was astounding, and something she never noticed before. The guys, no longer teasing her for her looks, actually rather _liked_ Lexa for her looks. The girls wanted to be her friend. Lexa, not wanting to let this opportunity go to waste, basked in the attention.

She had spent so much time exclusively with Clarke, there was so many people she never even noticed before. One girl particularly, Echo, just showered Lexa with non-stop compliments. Lincoln, a very good looking transfer student, vied constantly for Lexa's attention and always sent flirtatious looks and compliments her way.

She remembers excitedly writing to Clarke that day, describing everything she possibly could. Who she met, what she learned, what she thought of people, but more importantly how Clarke was at her new school. She still missed Clarke dearly though. She missed Clarke's jokes, and smiles. She wished Clarke would be with her now, at her new school, also basking in the attention of her new peers.

They sent letters back in forth throughout the school year. Lexa had a great time feeling like she finally fit in for once, instead of being left out.

On Valentines day, everything changed.

Lexa was again, basking in the attention she was receiving. She was gradually getting used to it.

She smiled warmly at people, cracked a joke here and then, and most of all, took great care in her looks. She realized very early that people valued her beauty more than her personality. So much, that Lincoln even wanted to ask her something on this very Valentines evening. Lexa had a hunch she knew what it was, she wasn't stupid, but let Lincoln bask in his pride a little longer of it being a surprise.

She came home from school that afternoon, with her backpack full of V-Day cards when her mother announced she would going out for grocery's. Lexa, oblivious to her surroundings, had simply told her mother "OK" and went upstairs to her room to phone Echo about what would happen with Lincoln later that night.

When she went out that evening with Lincoln, she knew she was going to be right. She faked her surprise when Lincoln asked Lexa to be his girlfriend, and she couldn't just say no to him. She was simply expected to answer "yes" to the hottest guy in school.

She was the hottest girl in school, and he was the hottest guy. This was expected. So of course she said yes. She always wanted to try dating anyways, and this was a good opportunity to try it.

Lexa knew she didn't feel anything for him though. Not in a romantic way at least. She recognized he was certainly good looking, but did not feel the need the other girls did when they talked about him. He felt more like a friend than anything else.

But nonetheless, she accepted Lincoln's proposal.

When she returned home that evening home. Her father looked distressed. When she inquired why, he wouldn't tell her, just to simply go upstairs and sleep, and not to worry about it.

Lexa woke up the next morning to her father shouting on the phone, something about him not wanting to wait 48 hours to report something. She wasn't sure what, but he seemed worried, distressed, and angry. She laid awake for a few minutes, waiting for the phone call to end. She knew her father would have to go to work soon, so she waited for him to leave to go to school.

But her father didn't leave on time. In fact he didn't seem to be leaving at all. Lexa quietly snuck out of her room and quietly opened Indra's, who seemed to also be awaking lying in bed.

"Indra, what's going on? Where's Mom? What's Dad screaming about?" Indra looked at her with sadness in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it Lexa, just go to school."

She hoped when she went downstairs to greet her father she would receive some kind of explanation before she went to school. But when she did, he had red eyes, his hair was a mess, he smelled like sweat. It was evident he had not slept all night. He simply looked at her sadly and walked away from her, up into his own room.

How could Lexa not worry the rest of the day? She could barely focus on school. When the day was finally over, she did not say goodbye to her friends, or to her newly minted boyfriend, Lincoln. She simply sprinted home looking for an explanation.

When she saw her house within her view, she noticed a police car out in front of her house, which only made her worry more. She sprinted faster towards the door. When she entered, she found two policemen sitting with her father and her sister.

The policemen sadly nodded towards her father and gave Lexa a sad look while passing her out the door. Lexa looked towards her father for an explanation. That was the day she was told her mother would not be returning, and that she had took all her things and left. There was no note as to why, only that she had decided to abandon their family.

Lexa cried harder than ever in her room that night. It seemed to be a ritual for her to cry in her room. It was her comfort zone. Indra had come in once to try and comfort her, but seemed just as sad, angry, and confused as Lexa. What made her mother want to leave their family? Lexa immediately started to regret all the times she made her mother scold her. If Lexa had been a better child, would her mother had stayed?

Lexa wanted to confide in someone. But she didn't want to tell her friends. She feared it would spoil her popularity. That she would seem weak and vulnerable. Her friends would simply not understand and would think of her as a lesser human being. She was already considered the leader of the group (by default, not by choice).

She had once almost confided in Echo that despite Lincolns' constant flirtatious approach to Lexa, she did not feel anything for him. Echo almost quite literally lost her shit. Lexa passed it off as a joke as she _obviously_ , liked Lincoln's attention, _I mean who wouldn't?!_

Lincoln was sweet, but was as dim as a light bulb, and his raging hormones sent him into instant sex talks, flirtatious gestures, winks, and really anything to attract any female attention. Neither would understand her situation, and not to mention the other "minions", who only admired Lexa purely for her outer appearance, would not understand either.

The first person she thought of who she could talk to was Clarke. But Clarke was far away in Seattle, and their letters had become less and less frequent to each other. Through Lexa's tears, she picked up the phone, wanting to call Clarke. Clarke had given her the new Seattle number before she left. She still had it.

But yet, as Lexa stared through her tears, at her trembling hand and the numbers on the phone, she started to wonder. Did Clarke even care about her anymore? Did Clarke even remember her? Does Clarke even want Lexa to contact her?

Lexa recalled a letter from Clarke. Clarke wrote about all the new friends she's made, the new house she's in, and what her new schools like. Of course Clarke would be having a good time. She was an amazing person.

Lexa imagined Clarke smiling, laughing, comforting her new friends in her big house, with nice clothes, and everything she could want from her Engineer of a father, and her Doctor of a mother. Lexa decided not to call Clarke. Lexa was sure, Clarke didn't want to hear from her and her own imperfect life, so different from what she was sure Clarke was experiencing.

So Lexa held it all in. Lexa vowed to forget Clarke. She wanted to show Clarke that she was capable of having an equally good life without Clarke. She imagined one day in the future, when they met again, she wanted Clarke to see how happy she was without Clarke, and how successful she came to be as well. Lexa was determined to have that moment for herself.

On Lexa's first day of high school, it was not that much different from middle school. She was still with the same crowd, with some new additions to her group. But overall it was the same.

Sure, she and Lincoln were no longer dating. In fact, they stopped dating a year after getting together. In 8th grade, she noticed Lincoln going off to date other women behind her back. Although she didn't care for Lincoln romantically, and she honestly couldn't care less if he liked other women, Lexa had to keep up appearances for appearance sake. So she ripped him a new one and broke up with him. Eventually, they reconciled, but to be friends only.

She expected high school to be pretty much the same. Unlike her other peers, puberty actually benefit Lexa more than hurt her. She still had a very fair complexion, she never became a victim of acne, and her breasts had grown larger (which she was often told by her male peers, was a very good thing) and her body and face finally seemed to be falling into their perfect places.

What she didn't expect however, was to see Clarke again.

She first saw Clarke in homeroom, sitting down a couple rows in front of her. She thought she saw the wrong face when she walked in. Maybe Lexa needed glasses?

She somehow couldn't believe that the little girl in her head had grown so fast in 3 years to this beauty sitting only a few rows in front of her. Lexa could feel her mouth agape and quickly closed it before anyone in her group noticed.

When she saw Clarke look around at Lexa and make eye contact, Lexa knew it was definitely Clarke. And when Clarke smiled at Lexa, she could feel the blood from her body rushing to her cheeks. She breathed a bit trying to suppress it. Homeroom was starting.

"Ooooh, who's that?!" Bellamy, an aspiring quarterback for the football team had commented, looking towards Clarke. Bellamy was new at this school.

Although Lexa didn't really want to have any relation with Bellamy whatsoever, considering Bellamy's complexion, his aspiring goals to be quarterback, physique and the female attention he receives, Lexa reasoned it would be good to have him in her group. It was good for appearances that her group were going to be the "popular" clique, and thus needed the most attractive people in her clique.

Based on Lexa's own experiences, she knew this was pretty much how the world worked.

Once free time was given homeroom, Clarke had stood up and walked towards the back of the classroom, towards where Lexa was sitting. Lexa prayed in her head Clarke wasn't _really_ going towards her. Maybe she was going to talk to Bellamy instead. Or maybe she was attracted to Lincoln. Lexa just didn't want Clarke to talk to her. She wasn't prepared for this meeting to happen so soon.

Clarke smiled at Lexa though, and stood in front of her.

"Lexa? It's so good to see you again! We should hang out again sometime!" She smiled even brighter. Lexa had swallowed again. For some reason, her brain chose this to be a good moment to go blank, and leave Lexa having no idea what to say. Lexa knew she wanted to say something to indicate to Clarke that she was leading a good life, that she doesn't have a broken family, or that she missed Clarke dearly, but her brain could not think of anything.

Then she heard Echo laugh. _Oh good. Please say something._

"Pffft! Look at what you're wearing! As if Lexa would hang out with someone like _you_ " Echo laughed.

Lexa was slightly taken aback. Although Echo _did_ tell Lexa that her plan was to quickly establish that they _are_ going to be the hottest kids in school, she wasn't aware Echo was going to do it like _that_. But Lexa's mind blanked again, and was left with nothing to say to Clarke.

In Lexa's opinion, there was nothing wrong with what Clarke was wearing. Open red flannel shirt, white tank top underneath, ripped jeans and sneakers. But she wasn't sure what else to say to Clarke.

Throughout the rest of the year, Clarke continued to prove that she was still just as intelligent and bright as she was back then. Lexa had no doubt that Clarke had amazing grades. Unfortunately, Echo as well as others in her group continued to harass Clarke on an almost daily basis.

Although Lexa never laughed as she never found the insults funny, her group had done it for so long, she reasoned if she tried to stop it at this point, they would most definitely turn their backs on her, and she would no longer be the "top dog". Worst case scenario, they would bully her too. She always felt guilty for it, but didn't want to appear weak in front of her friends. Especially since she was in such a dominating position. Sometimes they even jokingly called her "commander".

Thankfully, the year after, Clarke seemed to have a found a friend, Octavia Blake, Bellamy's little sister. Someone who, again, Lexa had no intention of wanting any sort of relationship, but Octavia was stunningly beautiful and since she already had the stunning brother, it would be good for her group to have the stunning sister as well.

But on the 2nd day, when Echo had tried to harass Clarke, Octavia, now assuming Clarke's new BFF role, had told Echo to go fuck herself, Lexa had trouble suppressing both her laughter and relief. She was glad Clarke had a friend to protect her from the harassment. Something Lexa could regretfully not do.

Later in the year, Echo had decided to start an "I hate Clarke Griffin" group on Facebook. Lexa was obligated to join. Echo had also questioned why Lexa had not written anything on the group wall. Everybody else had already written one thing they hated about Clarke Griffin.

Lexa however, was reluctant to. There was really nothing she hated about Clarke. Clarke had a quirky sense of humor she wasn't afraid to show in class, she was incredibly bright and intelligent, and Clarke never seemed afraid or scared of anything. Clarke always seemed to have the confidence to do anything. For that, Lexa was jealous for, but she still admired Clarke almost as much as when they had first met.

Lexa wasn't sure what to do. She had given Echo the excuse that they had already said everything she wanted to, and thus didn't have to post. But Echo continued to pressure her.

"OH! I heard Clarke moved back because her dad died! I wonder how he died." Echo had tried to feed Lexa via Facebook group messenger.

"Maybe he killed himself? lol" Lincoln contributed.

"Haha, I would to if I had her as a daughter" Bellamy offered as well.

"Use that Lexa!" Echo pressured again.

Lexa clenched her teeth and hesitantly typed it up on the wall, hovering over the "post" button. She did hear the Clarke's father died. But she respected that if Clarke didn't bring it up herself, she probably did not want to discuss it. Although gossip doesn't know exactly how he passed, rumors constantly flew around the "how". Clarke, obviously never talked about it.

"I don't know about this guys" She typed back. It was one thing to make fun of Clarke's appearance and her annoying tendencies. It was another to mock her dead father. She knew this was wrong.

"I bet you're in love with her lol" Lincoln teased.

Lexa swallowed and grit her teeth again. She was being undermined and shown to be weak. "I am not." She typed back and hit post over her tentative message. She only took solace in the fact that Clarke would probably not find this group.


End file.
